While some people might go to an exotic spring break locale such as Miami Beach, Cancun or anywhere else MTV might be filming, you can achieve the same spring break goals right in your hometown. After all, spring break is really all about sleep and parties, and you can do those anywhere.

However, if your goal is to get a cameo in the latest “Girls Gone Wild” video, you might want to try one of the spring break hot spots.

I went home to the Chicago area for my spring break. Unlike staying in a small city like Ames that is so dependent on college students for its nightlife, Chicago had enough going on during break that I didn’t have to spend my vacation staring at walls.

My spring break started at an ungodly hour on Friday at 4:45 a.m. when my friend Jim walked into my room and shook me to get up to leave. After staying up until 2 a.m., this was not exactly how I wanted the trip to begin, and I was not in the state of mind to get up.

This was the only way to get to the Des Moines Airport, even though my flight was not until 11:30 a.m. My master plan was to sleep in the airport and hope that nobody tried to steal my bags.

Once my friends and I arrived at the airport, I went up to the United Airlines agent, handed her my two bags and asked if there was any chance I could get out on an earlier flight. The agent punched a few keys, switched me to the 8 a.m. flight, and I was on my way with ticket in hand to “sweet home, Chicago.”

Once I arrived in Chicago, I took a cab home and surprised my mother, who had planned to meet me at the Chicago-O’Hare Airport an hour before our connecting flight to Traverse City, Mich.

It was about 20 degrees colder in Traverse City than it was in both Iowa and Chicago, with actual snow on the ground. There was not enough snow to ski; however, it was a blast going outside and running in the snow.

On Sunday, I returned to Chicago and slept the whole afternoon away. The sleeping schedule of 2 a.m. until 6:30 a.m. during the week at Iowa State gets old after awhile.

Monday was another day half- devoted to sleep. I eventually awoke and went downtown to run errands and get a haircut. Waiting until I got back home to see my barber, Ron, was worth it. The man knows how to cut hair.

Tuesday was my mom’s birthday. A perfect reason to go home for break is to spend time with the people that matter most – family.

I took my mom to dinner at New Japan that evening, and later Tuesday night, I met my dad on the train that he takes from work to his home in Woodstock, Ill.

I spent Wednesday with my stepmom, Debi, and my half siblings, Patrick, 3, and Megan, 1. It turned that they were going to Chuck E. Cheese, and I got to go with them. Patrick and I got addicted to throwing tokens into the games.

On Thursday, I caught a train back into the city and was forced to ride the CTA (Chicago Transportation Authority) to get to Gramaphone Records, which is just north of the downtown area. Gramaphone is a place in Chicago where you can buy Techno and other electronic music on vinyl. Yes, records – nothing like them. That was a bad idea, as I managed to drop $150 on records that day – after all, I hadn’t been to the record shop since winter break.

That night was party night at my house. I dug out my DJ speakers and managed to put together three turntables, a mixer and even a few lights for the occasion. About 20 people showed up, some of whom I did not know, but it didn’t really matter.

The party ended at around 3 in the morning, and Joe and I were left with a mess to clean up and a DJ setup to take down.

I took a plane back to Des Moines from Chicago on Friday, which I barely made because I looked at the arrival screen instead of the departure screen and thought the plane was late and in a different place.

When I arrived in Des Moines, one of my bags did not because I got to the plane so late. “Its a big, orange duffle bag made of sail cloth,” I told the man at the airport desk. He replied, “Son, I’m sorry, but we don’t know where it is. Maybe sometime tonight we will deliver it to you.”

The one bag that did make it was the laundry bag. Luckily, the other bag made it right before I left to go to Sinners and Saints, a rave that was just outside of Des Moines.

Since this was the first time I have been to an Iowa rave, I was quite impressed by the DJs. I got to sleep about 6 a.m. and was still amazed at the performance I had seen earlier. I was completely burnt out, and my brain craved sleep. At this point, break was now over, but it was all that I hoped it could be – relaxing, fun and productive.

While my hometown kept me busy over spring break, next year I hope to drive down to Miami to go sailing on my 14-foot boat and train for the 2004 Olympics.

Tom McGrath is a freshman in computer engineering from Evanston, Ill. He is a reporter at the Daily.